Helping someone you support find work

This is for parents, partners, friends, job coaches and support workers. The person you support stays in charge of their own search. Your part is to make each step easier, not to take it for them. Here is where you can help, and the support that already exists.

Start with what has worked before

Before looking at jobs, talk about what has gone well and what has not. Some questions to start with:

• What helped at school, college or in a past job?
• What got in the way?
• What time of day do they do their best work?
• Do they prefer instructions written down, spoken or shown?
• How much of the day with other people suits them, and how much on their own?

The answers are what our first conversation is about, so talking them through is already a way to help them prepare.

Let them say it in their own words

A request does not need a label. "I work best with written instructions" is a complete request, and nobody needs a diagnosis to make it. You can help them find the words, then let them say it. Wording you can use has examples.

Look at the whole process, not only the job

A job can suit someone well while the process of getting it does not: a long application form, a phone call out of the blue, an interview built on small talk. Read the advert together and sort what the job needs from what would be nice. Find out what each stage involves, and remember that adjustments can be asked for at every stage.

Practical help that leaves them in charge

• Keep track of dates, emails and documents, if they would like you to.
• Practise the route to an interview before the day.
• Sit with them while they fill in a form, if they want you there. The words, and the decision to send it, should be theirs.
• Go with them to a conversation, if they ask.

Support that already exists

• Access to Work can pay for a job coach or a support worker once someone has a job or a start date, and nobody needs a diagnosis to apply. Access to Work on gov.uk explains it.
• Connect to Work is a voluntary supported employment programme in England and Wales, except Greater Manchester. It is for disabled people, people with long-term health conditions and people with other complex barriers to work. It offers up to 12 months of support to find work, and up to 4 months for someone in work who is at risk of losing their job. People can ask to join through their local service, and some areas have a waiting list. In Hampshire, Connect to Work Hampshire runs it. In Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight, Connect to Work Solent does. gov.uk lists the service in each area.
• The King's Trust (The Prince's Trust until 2024) gives free courses, mentoring and work experience to people aged 16 to 30 across the UK, and can help with costs such as course fees, uniforms or travel. A parent, friend or support worker can refer someone, and the Trust then talks to the young person themselves. The King's Trust's referral page explains how.
• A work coach at the Jobcentre can tell them about programmes and grants where they live.
• In Northern Ireland, nidirect explains the schemes there.

Talking to us

The person you support registers with us themselves, because their details and decisions have to come from them. You can still talk to us about how we work, and with their agreement we can involve you more. Supporting someone explains what we can and cannot talk to you about.

When they are ready, they can register with us, with you there if they would like.